NEWS - AMERICAS
California wants 5 Million electric cars by 2030
California Governor Jerry Brown has announced
that he wants to get 5 million electric
zero-emission cars on the state’s roads
by 2030, and has signed an executive order
committing the state to that plan. In Brown’s
16th and final State of the State speech as
governor, he outlined an ambitious target
that makes previous goals seem like child’s
play. That said, the state was already struggling
to meet its goal of 1.5 million electric
vehicles by 2025 due to a significant lack of
charging infrastructure (California currently
has about 350,000 electric vehicles, the
most in the nation). As of 2016, there were
around 14.5 million registered cars in California,
the country’s most populous state.
Brown is more or less envisioning a world
where at least a third of all California cars
give off zero emissions, likely meaning they
are electric vehicle. “The goal is to make
our neighborhoods and farms healthier, our
vehicles cleaner — zero emission the sooner
the better — and all of our technologies
increasingly lowering their carbon output,”
Brown said in the speech. The big problem
with scaling up so fast, however, is finding
a place for so many EVs to charge. California
currently has roughly 12,000 charging
stations. That’s good compared to the rest
of the country, but woefully inadequate for
the bump Brown imagines. That’s why his
executive order calls for a $2.5 billion investment
for a surge in building chargers,
with a goal of 250,000 around the state by
2025 Current tech means that it takes longer
to charge cars than fill them with gas even
in ideal conditions. With a single charger
connected to a 240-volt outlet, getting a
full Tesla charge takes around 9 hours to
charge all the way. Surveys have shown that
“passion in the mind of the buyer” affects
car purchases. They don’t want to have to
wait a long time to drive their cars, which is
why PG&E wants to spend some its money
on “fast-charging stations, which can refuel
EVs in 20-30 minutes.” Brown’s executive
order would up the number of fast-chargers
from the current 1,500 to about 10,000.
US Payments Forum
announces EMV updates
The United States Payments Forum has
released its winter 2018 market snapshot,
which includes updates on EMV enablement
and contactless payments. Several
of the global payment networks reported in
December that the volume of chip-on-chip
credit card transactions has surpassed 50
percent, and the value of those transactions
exceeds 60 percent. Currently, 96 percent
of the top 200 merchants are now accepting
chip payments compared with just 29 percent
at the beginning of last year. At present
in the United States, contactless payments
accounts for a relatively small number of
transactions, however, transit has proven to
be a driver for broader adoption of contactless
payments in other countries, the press
release said. “In the United States, we are
seeing major transit agencies like New York
City’s MTA and Boston’s MBTA announce
plans to implement contactless open payments
fare systems, so we could see similar
trends in those regions,” U.S. Payments Forum
director Randy Vanderhoof said.
Sunoco Closes Sale of C-Stores to 7-Eleven
Sunoco LP has finalised the strategic divestiture
of most of its company-operated
convenience stores to 7-Eleven Inc., which
acquired approximately 1,030 of Sunoco
stores in 17 states for a reported $3.114 billion.
Dallas-based Sunoco’s strategic divestiture
is a major step in transforming it into a
more stable-income master limited partnership
focused on fuel distribution and logistics
rather than retailing, the company said.
The transaction does not include Sunoco’s
APlus franchisee-operated c-stores, and
Sunoco’s Aloha Petroleum business unit in
Hawaii will continue to operate its integrated
business model within Sunoco. The transaction
with 7-Eleven Inc., announced April
6, 2017, includes a 15-year take-or-pay fuel
supply agreement under which Sunoco
will supply about 2 billion gallons of fuel annually
with an additional 500 million gallons
of committed growth in the future. Sunoco
will use the gross proceeds from the transaction
to achieve targeted leverage and
coverage goals, it said. Meanwhile, Sunoco’s
strategic conversion of 207 West Texas
retail sites to a commission agent model
remains on schedule with a conversion date
expected to occur late in Q1 2018.
C-Stores squeezed by fast
food and dollar stores
U.S. convenience stores are facing an inconvenient
truth: Americans are changing
the way they shop for snacks and drinks.
The nation’s 154,500 c-stores are getting
squeezed by competition from all sides.
Fast-food restaurants and supermarkets
are slugging it out in price wars, while dollar
stores keep popping up everywhere. The
$550 billion c-store industry last year recorded
its weakest merchandise sales growth
since 2013, and businesses are rushing to
improve loyalty programs, offer better food
and let customers order online.“They’re
just facing a lot more competition for convenience
than ever before, whether it’s for
coffee, food, or even fuel,” said Todd Hale,
a consultant and former senior VP of consumer
and shopper insights at Nielsen Co.
It means more consolidation could be on
the way for the fragmented industry, where
chains make up less than 40 percent of the
market. Part of the industry’s difficulties are
rooted in economics. Couche-Tard, which is
grappling with slowing merchandise sales,
has blamed “anemic” real-wage growth for
the struggles of its lower-income customers.
As the income gap between top and bottom
earners continues to widen, retailers and
restaurants catering to cash-strapped customers
are more likely to succeed, according
to research by Cowen & Co.
Re-imaging a fuel station by Reebok & Gensler
Fitness brand Reebok and design firm Gensler
have partnered in a new “Get Pumped”
campaign to reimagine fuel stations as fitness
hubs, where people “can prioritize
their mental and physical wellness as they
say petrol-powered cars continue to become
obsolete The goal is a country where
a gym and restaurant are no more than a
few miles away,” according to the companies,
noting that there will be more than 71
million autonomous vehicles on the road by
2030.“So, what do you do with all of those
perfectly-placed fuel stations in every community?
Turn them into fuel for our bodies instead,”
says Reebok “This design work with
Gensler allows us to imagine a future where
there is zero barrier to entry for an opportunity
to work out and be healthy.” Alfred Byun,
designer at Gensler, adds: “We envision our
cities of the future to have a network of fitness
oases between home and work where
you could stop and recharge more than just
your car. Imagine an option to leave the traffic
jam to unwind with yoga, get your Crossfit
Fix, or pick up a green juice and your weekly
farm share all in one place.”
12 erpecnews is published by McLean Events, Conferences and Media Ltd.